A Step Back in Time
by adavisa
Summary: Harry walks alone, until a mysterious blue box stops in his path.


Harry Potter walked along the lonely dirt road that led from the Burrow to the small town of Ottery St. Catchpole, lost in his thoughts. He had fallen into a bit of a depression since the war had ended. He thought about his parents, Sirius, Remus and Tonks, and all the other lives lost during Voldemort's reign of terror. Some days those thoughts consumed his very being; it was almost like he forgot to live on those days. Today was starting to look like one of those days.

He was halfway to town when a strange whooshing noise drew him out of his thoughts. A blue telephone box, which Harry quickly realized was an old Police Call Box, materialized out of thin air.

Before he had time to comprehend what was sitting in front of him, a scrawny man who bore a striking resemblance to Barty Crouch JR opened the call box's door and stepped out, followed by a pretty blonde woman.

"Who are you?" Harry asked instinctively.

"I'm the Doctor and apparently you need our help," the man in the brown suit responded.

"The Doctor? Doctor who?" Harry asked.

"Just the Doctor," the man said cheerfully.

Harry shook his head, as if to clear out the cobwebs, and was surprised to find the Doctor talking again.

"My TARDIS seems to have pulled me here, but since we're not in the middle of a battle or another seemingly innocent, yet quite terrifying thing, I'm coming to the conclusion that it must be a war raging inside your head."

Harry nodded, shocked that the man could tell so much about him, and completely dumbfounded as to what the bloody hell he was talking about.

"TARDIS?"

"Oh, she's my spaceship. Stands for Time And Relative Demensions In Space." The Doctor explained.

"What's going on in your head, sweetheart," the blonde woman said, finally noticing the distress written all over Harry's face. "I'm Rose by the way. Rose Tyler."

The kind look in Rose's eyes and the warmth in her voice did something to Harry that all of the mothering that Molly Weasley had done in the months since the war couldn't do. He opened his mouth and all of his troubles came pouring out.

The Doctor stood back quietly and listed as Harry told Rose about his parents, his godfather, his friends and surrogate family members that had been killed. He listened and thought on how they could help the broken young man, as he poured out his feelings of guilt, failure and inadequacy.

By the time Harry had finished, the Doctor knew what he had to do. He walked over to where Harry and Rose had sat down on the path, and helped Harry to his feet.

"You're coming with us, and we're going to help you feel better," he said, guiding Harry toward the TARDIS.

"How are we all going to..." Harry started to ask.

"Fit? It's bigger on the inside," the Doctor replied.

As they stepped through the door of the TARDIS, Harry's eyes widened. It really was bigger, much bigger, on the inside.

"Wow," was all Harry could say.

He watched as the Doctor went to the center of the room and began turning knobs and flipping switches, causing that same whooshing sound he'd heard before the call box had appeared in the middle of the pathway.

"Alright, we're here," the Doctor said cheerfully. "I want you to understand that this isn't something that I do lightly. It's very dangerous to mess with your own timeline."

The Doctor went on to explain to a wide-eyed Harry that they were in Godric's Hollow on Halloween night in 1981. He also carefully explained that Harry was going to visit his parents, but could only tell them vague things, and not to warn them of what was to come.

Even though the Doctor had told him where they were, he was shocked when Rose opened the door of the TARDIS and he stepped into the backyard where he had played as a young toddler. The house he and Hermione had stood in front of on their horcrux hunt was not in ruins, but standing in it's full, original glory, just feet from him.

Harry walked slowly around to the front door and knocked.

He inhaled sharply when his young father answered the door, pointing a wand in his face.

"Who are you?" James demanded.

"I've got a message for you, from the future," Harry said quickly.

James didn't lower his wand, eying Harry suspiciously.

Harry gave in, handed his want to his father and said, "I'm your son. Look at my eyes, they're mum's. My messy hair, it's yours. Please let me in, I haven't got much time before I've got to go back."

James stepped back into the house, reluctantly allowing Harry entrance, and pocketing his son's wand, keeping his own at the ready.

"Lily's in the sitting room with...you?" James said, sounding quite confused.

When they entered the cozy room at the end of the hall, Lily looked up and, seeing the stranger, put herself between baby Harry, and the new guest.

"James, who is this?" she said, trying to hide the slight panic in her voice.

"He says he's Harry, but from the future," James tried to explain. "He says he only has a moment to tell us something, and then he has to go. He's given me his wand as a show of good faith"

Lily didn't look pleased, but said "Go on then. What do you need to tell us?"

"I need you to know that everything you're doing, and will do to protect me isn't for nothing. I survived, I grew up, and I saved our world, with a lot of help from my friends. Sirius and Remus helped too, and Severus Snape. He spends most of his life trying to help me stay safe. I just wanted to say thank you for protecting me so fiercely." Harry said quickly, trying not to get too emotional, or say anything the Doctor had forbidden.

Lily's eyes shined and James's jaw hung open. "Thank you for telling us," Lily said softly.

The clock on the wall chimed and Harry said "I've got to go."

He turned and took a step toward the door before turning back and saying "I love you mum, dad."

Lily crossed the room and took him into her arms, squeezing him tightly as James patted his shoulder. "We love you too," his parents said together.

Harry quickly headed for the door, and back outside to the TARDIS, wanting to be well away from Godric's Hollow when Voldemort made the attack that would be the beginning of the end for the dark wizard.

The TARDIS landed in almost the exact same spot, only about 15 minutes later than it had left, along the little path from the Burrow to Ottery St. Catchpole.

"Thank you Doctor, Rose." Harry said, feeling better than he'd felt in a while, knowing that his parents died knowing that their sacrifices weren't in vane.

Harry watched as the TARDIS faded away with another whoosh, before taking off toward the village, smiling for the first time in months.


End file.
